A few hours later. [Year 52 months 0]

Noah asked. "I retrieved a strange, luminous stone from the center of the alpha wolf's chest. Do you know this gem? On his vines was a gem colored blue, as well as a red glow that emanated from it. The size of the gem was comparable to the size of a palm.

Christine approached, and looked at the stained stone. "Oh, it's a mana stone, and a very interesting one at that! Such a quality you'd only see in a few decades!" She giggled, and continued. "It's been years since I've looked at one. In my experience as a former mercenary, it's big enough to qualify as a superior stone!"

Oh. So had he just obtained a precious commodity in this battle? Noah stroked it with his thorny vines, and tried to activate it, without success. "How can we use this mana stone?" Noah remembered. "Oh. Start by explaining to me the type of mana stone."

She nodded, and pulled a mana stone from the belly of a magical wolf. "Here's a blue mana stone, as well as a giant crab stone." Before pulling out another stone from the giant crab's shell.

He asked himself, why is it so different? The magic wolf's stone was limpid, but the giant crab's was also limpid, yet it was almost identical if you didn't understand the gem in the centre.

It reminded him of a similar concept in an MMORPG game. The player could kill beasts in designated areas and then, by killing them, collect interesting items such as stones...!

At the same time, Noah began to understand. "Is there a rank ordering between mana stones?" Christine nodded, pleased that he could understand quickly. "There are different mana stones, but they're generally colourless. Only the core is coloured. The colours differentiate their qualities, and prove their purity. They are divided into seven colours: red, blue, green, yellow, black, violet and white. Each mana stone is measured differently according to its power.

Noah instantly understood the optimised classification created by the system. In other words, the higher the colour of the mana stone, the rarer and more powerful it is, as well as the luminosity it can transmit outside the stone.

Christine continued. "Of course, there are various colours, but mana stones are generally limpid. Only the gem at the centre is coloured, and only beasts can possess them. Although it is the strongest of the weakest, it is nevertheless a decent prize."

He pulled the green mana stone closer, then said. "Then my mana stone should be the weakest from the beginning, the third rank." Christine nodded, then challenged him about the function of a mana stone.

After a short silence, the crab's mana stone disappeared from his hand. Christine closed her eyes, then an aura began to clear from her body, releasing a rather hostile pressure. "This is the use of mana stones," she opened her eyes. "Mana stones can be absorbed by living things, and are used to increase our own levels."

Wow. So could he quickly increase his levels, using all the mana stones at his disposal, as well as the red glow stone on his vines? A few moments later, Christine began to stagger.

Noah questioned. "Is there a side effect?" Christine frowned, then nodded slowly. Obviously, that would be a bit too good to be true. He shook his head, but was optimistic. He waited until Christine could come to her senses.

A few minutes later. Christine sighed. "Indeed, there is a side effect that is not very important, but rather annoying." Noah's curiosity was piqued. "The side effect is to absorb the mana stone in your body, and then fight in your inner thoughts the beast you have absorbed. Thus, we fall into a sleep of pain, and are in a weakened state during the trial. »

He thought calmly, and put away his thoughts.

Reflect. Reflect. Reflect.

He sighed. "Christine, withdraw." At his command, the old elf came out and joined the construction team of the future village. Noah withdrew, and landed inside his main body, where his ability was strongest.

In fact, he wasn't really afraid of side effects, it was very easy for him. First of all, he was certain to win against the magic beast he had previously beaten, although it was not good to have excessive confidence, he was confident in his abilities that had improved since the last time. Thus the side effects on sleep could be avoided by using Hibernation, and it was not harmful for a being like him who spent part of his time asleep, rather than awake.

He reproduces the same action as Christine, then the mana stone in his hands disappeared. Thus began Noah's first trial. He lost consciousness, and was ejected into his consciousness, where to locate his thoughts, and his history.

The inside of Noah's consciousness was filled with darkness, but he could make out various stars in the sky, so he was able to discover the landscape thanks to the light that illuminates the surroundings. Woo... A star fell to the ground, and a large red light illuminated the landscape.

Noah was dazzled, but managed to keep his eyes open, finding a rock embedded on the dark ground. What is this thing? Meteorite? He was confused, and didn't know what to do.

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He felt an intimidating, dangerous glow spread through space-time, and then felt his chills cleanse him. Moments later, the rock was destroyed, and a magical beast came out of it. "Alpha Wolf!"

Noah took care, and summoned vines, while blessing himself with various skills. Quickly, the Alpha Wolf opened his eyes, and began to charge towards Noah who had already put himself in combat mode. "It looks like we'll have to do a second round again... " he said, smiling.

The fight that had begun had quickly ended, and the alpha wolf was torn to pieces by Noah's high vines, before his body turned to dust, and scattered through the winds.

Noah had become too strong because of the level up rewards, and had acquired some rather strange abilities since the last time. [Level 50], skill acquisition [Mana Regeneration (passive)] [Infinite Resilience].

Other than mana regeneration, he had acquired Infinite Resilience which allowed him to overcome any pain, followed by unwavering courage, as well as an increase in all his stats. Honestly, the skill was very strong, but possess the weakness to be used only as a last resort because of the occupation, and the use of a huge amount of mana.

Obviously, this was his secret asset, and he had used it in this space, since his mana was infinite, and he could use his skills any times, leaving the wolf who felt infinitely weak destitute.

A pop-up notification came out of nowhere, and besieged him with new ones.

[Ding! You got the title: Magic Beast Killer!]

[Ding! Your mana reserve has grown greatly!]

[Ding!...!]

He watched, and calmly unrolled the pop-ups, smiling sweetly, and feeling satisfied with the rewards. At the same time, he could feel his body strengthening, and his soul becoming more powerful.

He shook his hand, and could see a trace of meaningless force, which could burst at any moment. He felt sad, but pulled himself together. Perhaps if he could transfer this infinite force outside his body, he could have become very powerful.

Maybe it was the concept of fighting within your thoughts, and being sovereign of yourself.

Soon, a new pop-up appeared, different from the others.

[Warning! Side effect: painful falling asleep!]

[Mistake! Skill [Hibernation has activated] ... Error... Pain alleviated... Error...]

Noah was struck from the inside, and lost consciousness. At the same time, pain appeared before disappearing.

[Year 52 months 9]

Noah woke up, and was able to regain consciousness, before glancing at the counter. He had spent 9 months asleep, but that was in his calculations. At first, he had thought it was only a small side effect, but following Christine's advice, he had prepared for the worst, and fell asleep for a few years, so this result was satisfactory.

He summoned hundreds of vines, and was able to gesticulate them in all directions, as if nothing had happened, whereas previously, he would have felt a heaviness impose it, followed by a trace of chronic fatigue of mana. Indeed, the mana stone had greatly increased its reserves, and its production.

He nodded, satisfied and then moved his vision towards the forest, before easily finding the village that was built during his sleep. Christine had met his criteria, and had implemented strict urbanization policies, as he had stipulated in the contract.

Outside, a small fortress surrounded the foundations, and elves watched the surroundings, signaling every strange action he could make out from afar. Noah naturally went inside, then visited the place, before meeting Christine.

At first, he had tumbled down the streets, and watched all the elves walking on the sidewalks, as well as the wagons rolling inside the surface of the roads. He could see crops, followed by several resources carried in crates.

He could even see children, followed by their mothers who shopped, unaware of his presence. "Mom... Can we eat magic beast meat? »

His mother kept walking, and smiled. "Of course! There are still a lot of them left! Compared to wild animal meat, the composition of the magical beast meat was different.

It possessed the characteristic of never rotting, and could preserve the taste, and the enormous flavor that emanated from it. Noah didn't know, but blamed a party for the fact that magical beasts could roam freely in rotten lands, and had gained immunity to rot.

At the same time, he went around the streets, and kept watching. Noah was happy to see its people enjoying their lives. Quickly, he saw some businesses with different merchants who sold their products. "I sell giant crab meat at a low price! 5 pieces of bronzes for a complete slice of meat! »

The local currency used by the elves were bronze, silver, and gold coins. Each gap constituted a hundred pieces lower. For example, a silver coin made up of 100 bronze coins, and a gold coin made up 100 silver coins.

Money was primitive, but it couldn't change much yet. So he left the local currency alone, then continued on his way, crossing shops that were closing, and opening.

Thus, it was able to cross half of the shops, and reached the residences of the inhabitants. All the houses were built of hardwood, and stone. Some even had stone walls, but they were very few.

Naturally, it was the officials, or rather Christine, and her family who lived there, since she represented the village, but she was also the highest ranking of these habitats. As he approached, he could see Christine busy training Mary.

Mary, who was sweaty, swinged her sword obliquely, then fell backwards, tripping over a stone embedded in the ground. "Haaaa...!!" Christine got angry, and asked him to continue. "Ha, Grandma! It's impossible to continue! I can't keep up, give me some rest! Please Grandma! »

Christine sighed, then gave in to Mary's successive complaints, before sitting down in a chair. "It's so hard to train a girl with the sword at this time!" she sighed. She was a former mercenary, and could kill countless enemies with a single strike, but that was a thing of the past. And she had become less than nothing, because of her old age. "How could I continue to increase the speed of training... She whispered, looking at Mary, who shuddered in horror.

Christine got up, and walked in good faith, in the direction of Mary. "Mary-

"Christine." Noah exclaimed silently. She was stunned, then knelt in the direction of the imposing voice that came out of nowhere. "Spirit tree! You came back safe and sound from your trial! " she says.

Mary followed her, and knelt down in turn, before being puzzled. 'Spiritual Tree has already returned?'

Noah nodded but had not come for the sole purpose of being congratulated by them. "Christine, how was the implementation of the village policy during my absence?"

Christine knelt, replied. "Everything was perfect, and everyone respected their role. No one has tried to communicate outside, and we have protected the forest as you have dictated. " she said proudly.

Noah was happy, then thought about the next policies, and his future actions to take.